Tom will be collecting the results of the November 4 elections, so that press releases can be written.

Treasurer's report: Per a conversation Tom had with the treasurer today (10/28/03), the Party bank account has approximately $2500. In addition there are perhaps $200 in checks not yet deposited into the account.

Chapter and committee reports:

(All the chapters below are also involved in election campaigns.)

--Shoreline chapter (Lindsay Mathews reported): continues opposing the cross-Long Island Sound pipeline. Seven hundred people attended a meeting on this last summer. There will be a hearing at 9:30am on Wednesday November 5 at the Omni Hotel in New Haven.

--Northwest chapter: had Smart Growth forum, hope to do more such forums (possibly one in Vernon). Tom (at least) will be attending a meeting October 30 in Bloomfield on Smart Growth-related issues where people from a variety of groups will speak. This cluster of issues includes Connecticut's high reliance on property taxes to fund schools, which forces towns to “grub for grand list”, that is, seek businesses and industries for their town because of the taxes those businesses and industries will pay, even if those businesses and industries might pollute or (like WalMart) might have an adverse impact on local businesses. This cluster of issues also includes sprawl and economic/racial segregation.

--Hartford chapter/Diversity Committee (Chris Reilly reported): interest in voting rights for noncitizens--Chris has done some research on what other cities have done about this issue and what paragraphs in Connecticut's law relate to this issue.

Foreign Policy Initiative. Justine is a member of the International Committee of the national Party. The concept of the Foreign Policy Initiative goes back many months; the International Committee wanted Green chapters across the United States to prioritize foreign policy issues. Iraq, of course, has dominated many Greens' concerns about foreign policy issues, but Cuba, Colombia, and many other areas of concern exist. This work relates to the formulation of the 2004 Greens national platform. Contact Justine if your chapter would like to have input into these areas. There may be a late December deadline for incorporating these issues into the evolving platform.

Resignation of Tim McKee. Tim has resigned from the fundraiser/field organizer position for personal reasons.

The Executive Committee's proposal on hiring a 10%-commissioned fundraiser/event organizer will be brought to the November SCC meeting.

Discussion of Action Plan proposal: The Action Plan proposal is appended. One idea in the Action Plan is the strengthening of the committees of the Connecticut Green Party. Ideas put forth at tonight's meeting included:

--person(s) hired by the SCC as fundraiser(s)/event organizer(s) could be key members of the Fundraising Committee

--Well-functioning state committees (fundraising, media, elections) could help chapters grow.

--What will be the interrelationships of the state-level committees and chapters? And how do national-level committees fit in here?

**Chapters could organize committees that paralleled the state committees, or that were interlinked with the state committees. (Relating to this idea, Tom pointed out that the national Party's media committee has at least one contact in each state--Tim McKee is the Connecticut contact.)

**One person in each chapter might focus on media work (including letters to the editor and op-ed pieces), another might focus on fundraising/finances, and so on.

**The state-level media committee could work with chapters to train chapter members on writing and distributing press releases.

**The state media committee (and other chapters) should know on what topics the New Haven chapter (for example) is getting positive press coverage.

**The successful work of one chapter (such as the cross-sound pipeline organizing that the Shoreline chapter is part of) should lead the state and other chapters to take up the issue and expand work on the issue--make it a state-wide issue, issue state-level press releases.

The national Party wants local Greens to send national press releases to local media (with a local “spin”--for example, how global warming would affect the Connecticut coastline).

Tom would like to go to chapters to discuss these types of issues and possibilities.

Another idea in the Action Plan proposal is that each member of the Executive Committee could oversee a committee, or a cluster (“portfolio”) of related committees. That Executive Committee member must ensure that the committees meet and accomplish their work. That Executive Committee member must also be sure that there is communication within the committee(s) and between committees--for example, the media committee must talk to the elections committee.

Presidential elections: Tim reported that the presidential election forum that was to have been held recently at the Hartford office was cancelled--people were involved in electing local Greens. It will be rescheduled (perhaps November 17). Forums could be held in Hartford, New Haven, etc.

Tim reported that Rhode Island will be having a Green presidential elections primary on Super Tuesday. Papers will be filed in November and signatures will be collected in December.

Tom reported that the national Greens nominating convention will occur in late June in Milwaukee--decide who, if anyone, to run for president and decide strategy, approve platform. Connecticut will probably be entitled to 14 voting delegates at this convention.

Report from conflict resolution committees: David Adams, Rachel Goodkind, and Kim Herkimer reported. The Resolution Committee for the first complaint (Battista vs. Vas Nunes) is preparing its report. A second complaint (Vas Nunes vs. Battista) was dismissed with prejudice (that is, it was judged to have been filed in retaliation). A third complaint (Vas Nunes vs Sevigny) is being processed--there has been a meeting of its Expanded Process Committee.

Women's Caucus: Watch for an announcement from Justine--another meeting of the Caucus will take place soon--perhaps November 8, perhaps 1-5pm, perhaps at Ana Lachelier's home. At this meeting the Caucus will select a voting representative to the SCC.

Internal elections: Tim said he might want to work on the internal elections committee. Tim wondered if Connecticut might select it co-chairs, treasurer, and secretary at a convention (meeting) rather than sending out ballots (which are costly in terms of postage). Another attendee said that the bylaws are ambiguous on this point.

National bylaws revision: Tom is a member of the committee working on this.

A. DEVELOPMENT OF NEW BYLAWS
B. DEVELOPMENT OF RULES AND PROCEDURES
C. FOR MEETINGS
D. DEVELOPMENT OF BUDGET/FISCAL POLICY
E. DEVELOPMENT OF COMMUNICATIONS NETWORK

6. DEVELOPMENT OF POLICY POSITIONS

A. Domestic
B. International

WITH THESE GOALS IN MIND, THE STATE PARTY MUST BECOME MUCH MORE COMMITTEE BASED. COMMITTEES MUST HAVE THE FREEDOM TO MEET WHEN THEY WANT TO BY WHATEVER MEANS THEY WANT TO (I.E, IN-PERSON, TELECONFERENCE, E-MAIL). THIS WILL ALLOW MONTHLY STATE MEETINGS TO BE MORE REPORT ORIENTED AND PROPOSALS TO BE MORE FOCUSED ON ACCOMPLISHING THE ABOVE.

TO ENCOURAGE AND SUPPORT THE WORK AND ACCOUNTABILITY OF THESE COMMITTEES, AND TO STRENGTHEN THE CONTACT BETWEEN THE STATE PARTY AND THE CHAPTERS, EACH MEMBER OF THE EXECUTIVE COMMITTEE COULD ASSUME RESPONSIBILITY AS A LIAISON TO THESE COMMITTEES.

IF APPROVED, THE NEXT STEP WOULD BE THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROJECTS AND GOALS BY EACH COMMITTEE ALONG WITH TIMELINES TO COMPLETE THEM.